Category Archives: Uncategorized

My backyard Florida pals were out to greet me my first week back in the warmth for the winter.  These unlikely partners, a limpkin and an iguana, were on opposite sides of the chain link fence running along the waterfront. … Continue reading →

A recent note from a stranger has dredged up some pleasant memories from 22 years ago and solved a mystery to boot! To set the scene, let’s harken back to Sept. 6, 2003.  I was happily paddling through a really … Continue reading →

I noticed today that a reader of one of my blog posts came to me because he or she had clicked on a link in an article on the website of The Cambridge Historical Commission called Practical Patents: 19th Century … Continue reading →

I hit a nice sweet spot this weekend in Connecticut.  It all came together on a relaxing paddle on the Salmon River down in Moodus, just a few miles above where it meets the Connecticut River at Haddam. It was … Continue reading →

All it takes is a couple quick trips from Connecticut to New Hampshire and a 10-day jaunt to Wisconsin and bingo, another 5,000 miles on the car.  Time for another oil change, tire rotation and alignment check, the latter especially … Continue reading →

After many days of cold and rain this month the sun finally came out and the temps hit 70 and I boldly ventured out on my first paddle this season in the northeast.  Years ago I gave up trying to … Continue reading →

For decades I have received a Mother’s Day telephone call from a fellow late-60s Peace Corps Ethiopia volunteer. “Ding-a-ling you Mother,” was the greeting from Jim Gregory when I picked up the phone every second Sunday in the month of … Continue reading →

I took the mountain route up from Florida to Connecticut this year because I wanted to visit some friends in north Georgia.  That took me onto I-81 and through Abingdon VA, site of a magical rainbow show when I first … Continue reading →

I am very happy I own a car that will not let me lock it when the keys are inside of it.  It not only refuses to lock.  It beeps at me…thrice! Color me lucky I guess, but I can … Continue reading →

Ramadan, the nineth month of the Islamic calendar, is a fasting period for Muslims, from dawn to dusk.  This year it will end tomorrow. It lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next. I’m … Continue reading →